Craig
Craig McCarthy (1997-present) is a freshman in college by the time the story starts. He was held back a grade in high school so he is one year older than the main cast. He lives in Arthur's dorm, originally his roommate before Arthur decided he would live at home while taking college classes. He is the pianist and co-founder of the band Riot Squad. He has a twin brother. Personality Craig is relaxed and easygoing, prioritizing his college experience over getting his degree. His main focus is making friends and enjoying the ride, playing piano and keyboard as he goes, with the other members of Riot Squad. His brain naturally zones out the clutter of his dorm, and he doesn’t quite understand why people keep telling him to clean it up, as “it’ll just get messy again anyway”. Similarly, he wears deodorant, but he doesn’t shower too often. Unlike Jaye, who doesn’t change his clothes due to a lack of motivation, Craig just doesn’t see the need to, as it’ll just make more laundry for him to do later. His slight, albeit constant, state of disheveledness and willingness to go with the flow and make plans on the fly without scheduling anything has driven a wedge between him and his brother. It takes him a long time to consider the way other people think of them, as he’s so used to saying “it’s fine” and moving on from there. He genuinely does want to make other people happy, though, and loves meeting new people at the places Riot Squad performs, as well as Crossroads College itself. Powers In his household, acting calm and collected no matter what the situation was normalized to an absurd degree. Therefore, all his emotions look the same. When summoned, they appear as versatile balls of black slime (ink) that can be used to stick to walls, float off the ground, or in extreme cases gain lots of blunt spikes that can do severe damage when launched at someone. Happy When Craig is happy, his ink will simply appear in its default state. He often uses it to make himself stick to walls, float upside down, or simply appear a little taller. It is smooth to the touch and easy for others to manipulate as well. Arthur loves playing with it. Sad When Craig is sad, he will leave a trail behind him of black, slimy footprints. He will also put drippy black handprints on whatever he touches. They stain. Angry The spheres of ink floating around him will become as hard as stones and grow spikes, which become longer and thinner depending on how angry Craig is. They do not automatically hone in on a target, and must be pushed in that target's general direction by Craig if he wants them to do any kind of damage. Scared When Craig is scared, the ink around him will pour onto him, surrounding him in it. He really dislikes this sensation, therefore he will often repeat to himself the phrase "it's fine" so he doesn't have to confront whatever issue in his life is scaring him, simply calming down without working to improve his situation. Trivia * His appearance, powers, and birthday were mainly inspired by Jones's Nemesis. ** The ink he summons is a reference to Ferrofluid. ** His handprints when he's sad are a reference to the thumbnail of the Vocaloid song Suji by MARETU. ** His name is a combination of Craig McCracken, creator of the Powerpuff Girls, and Megan McCarthy, writer of the first and second Equestria Girls movies. *** This is to hide his true name, which is that of Jones's Nemesis (BERT McCracken). * Early iterations of Craig's character were quite villainous in nature, some even involving him inflicting grievous bodily harm on Arthur, because his main visual inspiration was once seen as evil by Jones. ** This is referenced in how when Arthur and Craig first meet, Arthur is scared of him because he is wearing a T-shirt for a metal band Arthur doesn't like. ** The hexagon necklace he has is also a reference to these early iterations, as in a prior universe Jones created he was a supervillain named Hex who ran a prison for half-human half-alien hybrids and stole away their empathy in order to control them. * He will occasionally eat his own ink. According to him, it tastes good, and he will occasionally take his happiness and scoop it into jars to save for later. ** Arthur tries it at one point, but according to him, it only tastes good to Craig. * When he was young, he was seen as the outcast of his family for his difficulty controlling his emotions. Eventually, due to constant reprimanding and scolding for his powers making a mess and staining everything, they all melded together into one set of abilities. ** He is the only character whose emotions are all represented by the same material besides his brother.